Christopher Whiteside MBE is the Conservative County Councillor for the Egremont North & St Bees Division of Cumbria County Council. The division includes St Bees, Bigrigg, Wood End, most of Moor Row, the Western part of the Mirehouse area of Whitehaven, and surrounding countryside.
Chris lives and works in Copeland with his wife and family.
Chris is a former member of Copeland Borough council, and an Honorary Alderman of the City and District of St Albans.

Paddy Ashdown promised to eat his hat live on TV if the BBC exit poll turned out to be right

* it was pretty close, and insofar as it was wrong the actual results were even worse for his party. He did eat a what was described as a chocolate hat - it looks like a chocolate cake in the shape of a hat to me on the programme.

Alastair Campbell promised to eat his kilt if the BBC exit poll turned out to be right

* he ate a "chocolate kilt" at the same time as Paddy Ashdown ate the "chocolate hat"

Dan Hodges promised to streak naked down Whitehall wearing a Nigel Farage mask and singing "Land of Hope and Glory" if UKIP broke 6% in the general election.

* They managed 12%. A few days ago Dan finally did run down Whitehall wearing just his briefs, and did so to raise money for two charities, Elizabeth’s Legacy of Hope and the Terrence Higgins Trust.

He wasn't quite naked, or wearing a Nigel Farage mask - does anyone know where you can get them? - and the report here doesn't say whether he was singing "Land of Hope and Glory" but I reckon he came much closer to keeping the spirit of his promise than Alastair or Paddy, and certainly much closer than Paul O'Grady.

I generally try not to predict election results and after GE15 will be trying even harder to avoid making similar rash promises!